The growth of a business is propelled by the employees of which it constitutes. Businesses who do not invest time, money and resources into digitalising their operations, upskilling their staff and ensuring their teams are sufficiently digitally literate will fall behind. Digital advancements are sweeping workplaces, whipping up their operating systems, sales management, recruitment processes and communication lines; those who don’t keep up will get left behind and will certainly not be engaged for business growth. This applies to businesses as a whole and individuals too. For businesses, this increases the opportunity for growth, development and ultimately success; for individuals, harnessing digital skills increases job prospects and decreases the threat of automation!
While not all roles are in need of digital skills, an increasing amount are and a recent study by the European Commission found that in 2017 even traditionally manual roles such as building workers also require basic digital skills (50% of workplaces)
“The digital economy is transforming the way people work and the skills they need at work.”
Gartner has claimed that 2020 will be a pivotal year in the development of technology in the workplace, specifically the integration of artificial intelligence. While job roles may change or evolve, businesses will not stop striving for growth and to do this there needs to be a culture allowing for and supporting business growth; the development of digital skills in the workplace will aid this!
Which skills should workforces be welcoming, encouraging and developing?
The Government has released two pieces of research which examine the current demand for digital skills in the UK which will be needed to succeed over the next 10 years.
Their report highlighted the following as the most needed skill clusters:
- Productivity Software
- Programming and Software Development Skills
- Computer and Networking Support
- Data Analysis
- Digital Marketing
- Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
- Machining & Manufacturing Technology
- Digital Design
The report also showed the regional breakdown of demand for digital skills, in which Greater London presented with 87% of all jobs posted being in digital occupations.
More manual digital jobs such as invoice processing, data input, clerical duties, processing sales orders and stock and inventory management have been identified by Innovation Foundation, Nesta, to be least promising for the future workplace. These jobs are more likely to be fulfilled by artificial intelligence and machine learning as we progress.
The way we structure our teams in the here and now together with the way we both select and skill our staff will determine the success of our business growth going forward. If team skills are diverse, adaptable and buildable then the businesses can flex and grow with the changing demands of the industry and technological developments as needed.
